Erjavec expects to exchange with Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusić on Wednesday "positions on how to create conditions allowing that parliament already ratifies Croatia's EU accession treaty at its February session".

He explained after a meeting with Positive Slovenia (PS) leader Alenka Bratušek regarding the political crisis in Slovenia that a phone conversation held with Pusić last Friday had indicated that positions were converging.

"This is about finding a solution acceptable for both sides," Erjavec said after Pusić indicated Croatia would stop the lawsuits against the LB bank and its offshoot NLB over alleged debt to Croatian savers of the bank in case an alternative solution is found with Slovenia.

Erjavec announced that Pusić and him would probably agree on Wednesday on holding an additional meeting together with the experts from both countries looking for a solution.

Efforts for an agreement, which is needed soon considering the political crisis in Slovenia and the 1 July deadline for the ratification, have also been stepped up by President Borut Pahor and his Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipović.

The latter confirmed today he had spoken to Pahor and that he expected him for an official visit in Zagreb next month.

Josipović warned that the failure to ratify Croatia's accession treaty would be extremely bad for Slovenia as well as for Croatia.

Hannes Swoboda, the president of the Socialist (S&D) faction in the European Parliament, said today that Slovenia's failure to ratify the accession treaty would be "a disaster", not only for Croatia but also for Slovenia's reputation.

Speaking to the STA prior to his visit to Slovenia, he voiced the hope that Slovenia and Croatia will manage to resolve the LB dispute, which he said was a "very urgent matter".